Vita

Janina Pawelz is the Network Coordinator and Project Leader of the project "Patterns and Dynamics of Conspiracy Theories and Far-Right Ideologies in Times of Crisis" (NEOVEX), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Between 2017 and 2021, she worked as a research associate in the BMBF-funded joint projects PANDORA and KURI at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) and in the Horizon 2020 project CRISEA, funded by the European Commission. At the Leibniz Institute German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), she completed her doctoral research (2013-2016) on gangs in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. She is a co-initiator and strategic advisor to the Federal Working Group "Against Online Hate." Janina Pawelz studied Political Science, Austronesian Studies, and Ethnology at the University of Hamburg and the Universitas Udayana in Indonesia. She has also served as an international expert evaluator for the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). In 2012, she worked as an election observer in Timor-Leste and is part of the ZIF Expert Pool for Election Observation (Center for International Peace Operations - ZIF).

Research Profile | Current Projects

Janina Pawelz works in the research area of "Societal Peace and Internal Security", focusing on political violence and radicalization, online propaganda, and mobilization towards violence within the far-right spectrum. Her current research concentrates on conspiracy theories and far-right ideologies and their societal impact on society and politics. One key theme is the study of these phenomena in social media. Other research interests in the field of peace and security include collective and urban violence, dynamics of violence, youth violence, gangs, and transformation processes of violent groups. She is interested in empirical methods, field research, development cooperation, and monitoring & evaluation.

Selected Publications

  • Pawelz, Janina, Holger Marcks. 2022.
    Vom Opfermythos zur Gewaltfantasie: Die Funktionsweise von rechtsextremen Bedrohungsnarrativen.
    In: Inszenieren und Mobilisieren: Rechte und islamistische Akteure digital und analog, edited by Ursula Birsl, Julian Junk, Martin Kahl, Robert Pelzer, 81-108. Opladen: Budrich. DOI: 10.3224/84742488.
  • Albrecht, Stephen, Martin Kahl, Janina Pawelz. 2021.
    Ressentiment und Hass in den sozialen Medien Facebook und der Fall Arnsdorf.
    Research Report 007. Hamburg: IFSH. DOI: 10.25592/ifsh-research-report-007.
  • Albrecht, Stephen, Felix Bethke, Hendrik Hegemann, Julian Junk, Martin Kahl, Janina Pawelz, Jonas Wolff. 2021.
    Transnationale Sicherheitsrisiken / Demokratien auf der Kippe: Globale Trends und Bedrohungen.
    In: Friedensgutachten 2021, edited by Bonn International Center for Conversion, Leibniz Institut Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik an der Universität Hamburg (IFSH), Institut für Entwicklung und Frieden, 138-155. Bielefeld: transcript.
  • Marcks, Holger, Janina Pawelz. 2020.
    From Myths of Victimhood to Fantasies of Violence: How Far-Right Narratives of Imperilment Work.
    Terrorism and Political Violence 34 (7): 1415-1432. DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2020.1788544.
  • Pawelz, Janina. 2020.
    Aux armes! Der digitale Kampf gegen Rechtsextremismus im Internet.
    Policy Brief 4/2020. Hamburg: IFSH. DOI: 10.25592/ifsh-policy-brief-0420.